World Cup Oxford August 2012 - Scotland Over 60s

The Grand Masters (Over 60s) tournament had 10 teams: Australia, England, Germany, Italy Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa and Wales. Scotland was in Pool B along with England, Germany, New Zealand and South Africa. The top two in each pool played off for places 1-4, the teams finishing third and fourth in each group played off for places 5-8, and the fifth placed teams played each other twice to decide the final two positions.

Scotland emerged from the group stages with no points and only one goal, scored by Colin Gallacher in the first match against New Zealand, and were condemned to play off with Japan over two matches for ninth place. In spite of having the lion's share of possession in both matches, Scotland lost the first match 3-0, having no answer to the Japanese breakaways. The Scots finally recorded a victory in the second match but 3-2 was not enough to deny Japan ninth place. Colin Gallacher ended the tournament as top scorer with two goals.

Fixtures and Results

Wed 15th New Zealand 6 Scotland 1 (Gallacher)

New Zealand proved too strong for the Over 60s, running in six goals with Gallacher at least putting Scotland on the scoresheet after Gordon had made a great run into the NZ circle and crossed for Gallacher to score.

Thu 16th 16:20 Pitch 2 Scotland 0 Germany 4

Germany tormented the Scottish defence in the first quarter, their quick and mobile forwards getting in behind the Scots back line, with sweeper Chisholm hard pressed to deal with them. The first quarter break gave the Scots a chance to reorganise but the Germans upped their game and continued to find cracks in the Scottish defence, claiming three goals in the first half. Scotland began to create chances during the second quarter but poor ball control and good tackling from a solid German back line kept them at a distance. The second half was more even but Germany managed one further goal to end up 4-0 winners.

Sat 18th England 4 Scotland 0

Scotland put up stiff resistance against England but the Auld Enemy denied them a place in the semi finals with a 4-0 victory. They had competed well until a penalty awarded to England was converted before keeper Kalman was ready. The umpire refused to allow a retake and the Scots' misery was compounded when a hit out went straight to an English forward, who took full advantage to put his side two up. The heart went out of Scotland, who were on the back foot for the rest of the match, conceding a further two goals.

Sun 19th Scotland 0 South Africa 6

Initially, Scotland took the game to South Africa, Loudon hitting the post and another golden chance going a-begging, but soon the game swung the other way, Scotland finding it hard to move the ball out of defence. The first goal came from a short corner, the ball being slipped to the right before being despatched past Kalman to put South Africa one up. Another short corner, disputed by the Scots after the umpire had given South Africa advantage and they had missed a shot at goal, gave South Africa a 2-0 advantage at the end of the third quarter. Scotland lost any chance of saving the game when yet another short corner, this time switched right, put them 3-0 down, then a fourth short corner put a result well over the horizon. Scotland kept pressing and could have had a consolation when Wilson was on the end of a neat move at a Scottish short corner but his mishit shot was well saved by the Springbok keeper. Soon after, South Africa walked the ball into the net for their only open play goal. To add insult to injury, South Africa were awarded a penalty after a shot hit a Scottish leg at a short corner taken after the hooter, and despatched it to end the match 6-0 winners. The result left Scotland out of the 5-8 place playoffs, with only two matches for 9-10 place left to contest.

Wed 22nd Japan 3 Scotland 0

Scotland had a mountain to climb after losing a match in which they had most of the posession but none of the goals. Japan took advantage of what chances came their way and Scotland did not, Gallacher hitting the post two minutes after his penalty stroke was saved. A 3-0 loss meant that they would need to beat Japan by the same score to take the fight for 9th place to a penalty shoot out in the second match between the teams on Thursday 23 August, or win by four clear goals to avoid the wooden spoon.

Scotland scored the three goals which could have given them a play off for ninth but, once again, Japan hit on the break to score two goals against the run of play. Gallacher scored first with his reverse stick from close in after a cut back by Gordon, then Burns made it two. With the score tied at 2-2, Gordon got the winner to give Scotland some consolation but no improvement on tenth place.